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Far from being dead, that lovable little spy from Spy's Demise is back to give you another chance to win a prize from Penguin.

In The Spy Strikes Back, you stand to win $100 of software if you crack the code. However, you've got to find the clues first. They are hidden away in Dr Xavier Tortion's [Geddit? - Ed] German fortress. The screen displays a "section" of sixteen rooms, with 24 sections on each of the five floors. Hence, there are 120 sections in which the nine clues can be hidden.

Of course, it's not simply a question of exploring. You must avoid the guards too. When you first enter a section there is no visible door, although there may be an elevator leading to another floor. In order for the door to appear, you must get a flashing ring from one of the corridors.

If there is a spy shape instead of the ring you've found one of the clues. Also, some of the rooms contain bonus objects which bestow additional points.

In addition to the main section display of sixteen rooms, the position of the section is shown on a 6 x 4 floor map and a level "map" shows you which floor you are on. A counter bottom left of the screen shows how many points you'll score for getting through the section. However, if a guard sees you, an alarm sounds and your points are halved.

Dodging into a room will stop the alarm, but if you are seen again your points will be halved again. As in Spy's Demise, the spy is without weapons, so must resort to stealth.

Control is by keyboard or joystick, with the usual convenience controls to pause, toggle sound effects off, restart the game and view the high scores, which are saved to disc. If you have a Mockingboard speech card you can route the sounds through it, but the program defaults to the Apple speaker.

Once again, Penguin has produced a game with arcade-like action and the added interest of the code.

If you are to find all the clues you will need to map the sections and elevators, which means you have to make extensive use of the pause facility so that your points don't disappear while you draw.

The code has to be seen and heard to be believed. I haven't a clue what it means. Mind you, I never cracked the code in Spy's Demise either.